Privacy policy

This policy explains what Hibiyomi (“we”) collects when you learn Japanese with us, why, and the choices you have. It is written for India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 (DPDP Act).

What we collect

• Account: name, email, a scrambled (hashed) password, year of birth, and for learners under 18 a parent or guardian's email.
• Learning data: the kanji, words and questions you answer, whether you were right, how long you took, which option you picked, quiz and mock-test scores, your goal, daily study time and exam date.
• Class data (if you join through an institution): the classes you are in, homework you submit and files you upload.
• Speaking practice: we keep only how many messages you sent each day. We do not store your conversations.
• Sign-in records: device type (browser name) and time of each sign-in, so you can see and end your sessions.

We do not collect your location, contacts, photos or payment card details, and we do not show advertising.

Why we use it

• To run your account and schedule your reviews (spaced repetition needs your answer history).
• To show your progress to you, and to your teachers if you joined their class.
• To improve the app: we study answers in aggregate (for example which kanji people confuse) using codes instead of names.
• To send account emails (verification, password reset, parent consent, class invitations). No marketing email without your consent.

Who else sees it

• Your institution and teachers, if you joined a class: your progress, scores, submissions and activity in that class.
• Service providers who help us run the app: our hosting provider, our email provider, and, when you use speaking practice, the AI provider that writes the replies (your messages are sent to it to get an answer and are not kept by us).
• Voice input uses your browser's speech recognition. In some browsers (for example Chrome) the audio is processed by the browser maker's servers under their own privacy policy. You can always type instead.

We never sell personal data.

Children

If you are under 18, we ask a parent or guardian to approve your account by email before we save any learning data. If they decline, the account is deleted. We do not track children for advertising or build behavioural profiles for advertising.

Cookies

We use one essential cookie to keep you signed in. Settings such as theme are stored in your browser. We do not use advertising or tracking cookies.

How long we keep it

We keep your data while your account is active. When you delete your account, we delete your personal data within 30 days, except where the law requires us to keep it longer. Backups are overwritten within a further 30 days.

Your rights

• See and download your data: Settings → Privacy → Download my data.
• Correct your details in Settings, or ask us.
• Delete your account: Settings → Privacy → Delete account.
• Withdraw consent at any time by deleting your account or writing to us.
• Nominate someone to exercise these rights for you if you die or become unable to.

Security

Passwords are hashed, connections use HTTPS, sessions can be ended from any device, and staff access is limited to what each role needs. No system is perfectly secure; if a breach affects you, we will tell you and the Data Protection Board as the law requires.

Contact and grievances

Questions or complaints: zatchbell99975@gmail.com (Nikhil Attri, Grievance Officer). We reply within 7 days and resolve complaints within 30 days. If you are not satisfied, you may complain to the Data Protection Board of India.